1. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 WP4-T4.2 : Establishment of validation criteria of multidisciplinary information products sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 Purposes of the validation Fields to validate Domains of validation Observation data for the validation Validation criteria

2. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 Purposes of the validation sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 The validation must allow : the system and all its sub-systems to improve => need of external data to control the consistency and the accuracy of the system the control of the forecasting system in operation (e.g., % of time the system is running well, databases correctly filled etc…). to provide some “error bars” with the delivered products to respond to special user requirements. It is possible to consider particular products for particular uses (e.g., surface currents + Sea State + Wind for Search and Rescue or oil spill). The errors levels should be given by users and integrated on our system to improve it.

3. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 Fields to validate sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 Input fields (forcings) Atm. fields (e.g. : heat & fresh water fluxes, wind stress …) IC & OBC : validation of parent system solution Output fields Mandatory fields : SST, SSS, T(z) & S(z) Optional fields : SSH, SSV, V(z), biological fields, surface wave & ice (3 last fields for coastal applications) Necessity to choice a same standard output format (COARDS : netcdf files, regular grid …) for the OpenDAP (EuroMISS WP8)

4. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 Domains of validation sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 5 integrated systems : Baltic Sea North West Shelf Iberia-Biscay-Ireland area Mediterranean Sea Black Sea Observation data for the validation Following the concept of MERSEA database but for each region (WP2)

5. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 Validation criteria sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 4 metric classes : Class I : Simple maps of chosen output variables on a common grid and vertical levels => model inter-comparison & comparison to remote sensing data (e.g. SST or EKE) (post-processing) Altimetry I.PUJOL CLS EKE july 2003 – july 2004 Model MERCATOR

6. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 Class II :  High resolution sections and profiles of the different models against ship sections or moorings … For example : - temperature profile, time series, on points where there are moorings (on line) - salinity profile, time series, on points where there are moorings (on line) - velocities along ship section (post processing) Class III : Daily mean volume transports through special sections (online)

7. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 XBT lines MOORINGS GLOSS TAO PIRATA Model/Tide gauge SLA time series comparison SOOP MFS MODEL T XBT Observed T MODEL/OBS comparison WOCE CLIVAR CANADIAN SECTIONS MODEL/WOCE- CLIVAR SECTION VOLUME TRANSPORT across FLORIDA Strait : MODEL/CABLE Comparison SECTIONS and TRANSPORT sylvain.cailleau@mercator-ocean.fr Example of MERSEA project for class II & III

8. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 RMS & correlation of : - Analysis / observation data => consistency & accuracy of analysis (case of assimilated models) - Forecasts / observation data => consistence & accuracy of the forecasts - Climatology (e.g. monthly) / observation data => consistency & accuracy of the climatology - Persistence / observation data => consistency & accuracy of the forecast when the model is supplied by the same forcings during the forecasting period Class IV : Test of the performance of analysis and forecasts The comparison between these 4 indicators permits to assess the performance of the system Performance assessment on sea-ice concentration (TOPAZ system). Compared to SSM/I products (L. Bertino)

9. www.mercator-ocean.fr WP4 Task T4.2 ECOOP Annual Meeting Athens, 12-15 February 2008 Validation Class IV for input (solar flux) & output (SST) INPUT 3-hourly ECMWF Short Wave Radiation / 3-hourly remote sensing data (CMS METEOFRANCE) OUTPUT SST of the model MERCATOR forced by 3-h ECMWF fluxes / Reynolds SST analysis